Labour told to set out how many social homes it will build with £39bn spending review pledge

Labour has been urged to set a target for how many social homes it hopes to build following the surge in funding to build affordable homes revealed at last week’s spending review.

Rachel Reeves announced a £39 billion affordable housing programme over 10 years, hailing it as the “biggest cash injection into social and affordable housing in 50 years”.

The chancellor also said the government was prioritising building social rent homes with the fund alongside affordable rent and shared ownership homes.

The funding is intended to turbocharge housebuilding, but Reeves’ financial statement did not reveal how many homes the programme is set to deliver.

Housing organisations have called for as many as 90,000 social rent homes to be built each year for the next decade to make up for years of failure to build enough or prevent social homes being sold off through the Right to Buy scheme. 

Big Issue ambassador Kwajo Tweneboa has been demanding the government commit to a social homes target for months as part of his Our Home Our Futures campaign.

He told Big Issue: “Investment in social housing is good, it’s the foundation of how we as a country tackle the current crisis.

“With that being said, the announcement wasn’t clear on how much of the £39bn will be invested in the construction of council and social housing. It also wasn’t clear how many social homes this government plans to build.

“The longer the government avoids giving us a social housing target, the longer 1.3 million households are stuck on waiting lists across the country with no end in sight.

“Let me make it clear the only way this government will meet their 1.5 million homes target is through the construction of social housing – that starts with them giving us a clear target. They’re nearly a year into government and time is running out.”

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Housing secretary Angela Rayner has declined to set a target during Labour’s first year in power.

Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee chair Florence Eshalomi asked the deputy prime minister in January why she hadn’t stated how many of the 1.5 million homes Labour hopes to build will be social homes.

Rayner answered: “The reason I haven’t set a target other than we will have the biggest wave of social and council homes of a generation is because, first of all, every government has failed to hit the target they have set.

“But, equally, there’s a number of different permutations. Depending on the local plan – which I’m not in control of – they will identify their areas of land that could be used and then depending on the area of land that could be used and the land value and other factors are dependent on how many social and council homes you can get from it.

“What we will do is set out clear, like the golden rules for the release of grey belt, what we think people should be delivering as part of that. We do get those numbers but it very much depends on the land and the local plans. So it would be foolish of me without those plans.

“I don’t want to follow below what we’ve done in the past, I want to exceed that. It would be ill-advised with all those parts to try and give you an exact definitive figure.”

But that answer has not stopped calls for Labour to commit to a figure.

Following Reeves’ announcement, Eshalomi reiterated her call for a target.

“The chancellor’s announcement must be a turning point where we finally deliver the social homes people need up and down the country,” said Eshalomi.

“We will be urging the government to be clear on just how many social homes they expect this capital investment to deliver and whether they will set a target for social rent homes in the long-term housing strategy.”

Mairi MacRae, director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, also urged the government to commit to a definitive figure.

“To ensure this funding tackles homelessness at its root, the government must now set a target for how many social rent homes it will deliver through this programme,” said MacRae.

A failure to build enough social homes and prevent them being sold off has been a key driver of the housing crisis.

Government statistics revealed in February that there was a net less of 7,723 social homes in England in 2024. Just 9,866 social homes were built but 17,589 were either sold or demolished.

The deficit means 180,067 social homes have been lost in England over the last decade, analysis from Crisis found.

A lack of social housing has seen the number of households living in temporary accommodation hit new heights in England at a record 127,890 households.

That also has seen growing numbers of people heading into the private rented sector, where tenants are experiencing record-high rents.

Jae Vail, spokesperson for the London Renters Union, said the government should be transparent about how many social homes it hopes to build and take action to make private renting more affordable.

“£39bn is still far below historic levels of investment in affordable housing, and there’s no clarity on how much of it will be truly affordable at social rent,” said Vail.

“Private developers can still use AHP grants to build shared ownership homes and high-cost rentals at 80% of market rates, properties that won’t help communities displaced by rising rents or trapped in temporary accommodation. Developer-led housing policy will keep corporate profits high but it won’t solve the crisis.

“We need rent controls to protect people now, and we need serious public investment in building and buying back council housing.”

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